Water May Be Secret Weapon in Weight Loss

Drinking water before each meal has been shown to help promote weight loss, according to a new study at VA Tech.
The study is being presented at the 2010 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

The study shows that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy. In earlier studies, middle aged and older people who drank two cups of water right before eating a meal ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories during the meal.

The study included 48 adults between age 55 and 75 who were divided into two groups.

One group drank two cups of water before meals and the other didn't. All participants ate a low-calorie diet throughout the study.

After 12 weeks, water drinkers lost about 15.5 pounds, compared to non-water-drinking dieters, who lost only 11 pounds.

Not only were those who drank water before meals more successful after 12 weeks, but they also kept the weight off for a full year after the weight loss study.

Even better, most water drinkers, followed for an additional 12 months, not only kept weight off but even lost another 1 to 2 pounds!

This doesn't mean that good old H2O is a magic potion, but that drinking water may help people shed pounds for the simple reason that it has no calories and fills up the stomach, making people less hungry.

Source: WebMD Health News